Pictured is “Imagine” by John Lennon.

By Darla McCammon
and DeeAnna Muraski

How many of us are old enough to remember the Ed Sullivan Show on TV?

Do you also remember the night in 1964 when Sullivan brought a group of young men from the United Kingdom to perform? Do you recall what happened when they sang their own music that would soon create an enormous fan base and turn the U.S. into “Beatlemania” country?

John Winston Lennon was the glue and largely the genius behind this group — and their success. He was born in October of 1940 in Liverpool England during World War II. He and his mother Julia, both survived the German air raid happening during his birth. His father, a merchant seaman, was absent from the birth as well as most of Lennon’s childhood. When he was only four years old Julia remarried but left little Lennon with her sister, “Aunt Mimi.” This was fortunate for Lennon and Mimi, a person who loved him. His mother Julia, visited him regularly. She taught him to play the piano, guitar, and banjo. He was devastated when she was killed in a fatal car accident.

The headmaster at his school told Lennon he should go to an art school since he did not perform well in school. He then studied art at the Liverpool Art Institute for three years. Later he would tell his friends, “Art was — and is, my first love.”

As his musical career exploded, Lennon continued to promote his art by holding exhibitions. In 1962, Lennon married Cynthia Powell and they had one son named Julian. They were divorced in 1968. He had met a Japanese artist whose work he admired. Her name was Yoko Ono. They were married in 1969. Ono was a great asset to Lennon’s art and held many exhibitions and gallery shows of his work. She marketed his art and told people “I am honoring a silent promise to share John’s love for art with the rest of the world.”

She began to expand his art exposure by creating prints from his original works. Lennon worked primarily with pen and ink. He also did etching and lithography as well as serigraphy, silkscreen and chine colle. Art in Action will have an entire column in the future devoted to explanations of these art terms.

His marriage to Ono caused an outpouring of work by Lennon, some of it too erotic for the public and some galleries. His art often featured peace and love. Much of it centered around one of the Beatles’ songs called “Imagine.” Lennon’s life became much like an elevator with ups, such as the success of the Beatles and downs such as his break-up with long term friend and partner Paul McCartney that caused the demise of the Beatles as a group.

He also fought deportation from the U.S.A. In that battle his marriage suffered and he and Yoko Ono separated. He was eventually granted permanent U.S. residency. He reconciled with Ono in 1974 and they had a baby boy named Sean. Lennon decided to devote himself to the duties of a father and husband and backed out of music altogether.

This only lasted until 1980 when he produced a new album. Not long after this release, a fan, bewilderingly, shot Lennon several times at his home in New York City. Lennon was grieved by millions when he passed away from this attack at the young age of 40.

ART EVENTS: Downtown Warsaw, Walk and see a full-size replica of a giraffe eating leaves plus murals and other exterior art.

Lakeland Art Gallery June – July: Terry Pulley and Cathy Parrot. Historical Society of Kosciusko County at Warsaw City Hall in September.

If you would like to be an exhibitor at Warsaw City Hall Art Gallery, contact Darla McCammon at [email protected].